Zagurski would have been eligible for arbitration had he remained on the Yankees' 40-man roster, as he has three years, 55 days of Major League service time to this point in his career. Given his lack of Major League time this season, however, he projected to earn scarcely more than the league minimum.

Zagurski allowed 12 runs in 6 1/3 innings as the big league level this season but registered a strong 3.04 ERA with 14.0 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 53 1/3 innings at Triple-A. As a player with more than three years of big league service time, he can reject his outright assignment and elect free agency, making the decision to outright him now the same as if they'd non-tendered him a couple of months down the line.